Lama Gangchen Help in Action and Companies: why and how to help us
Other than – and most importantly – the joy of carrying out an action that benefits many people, the collaboration between a company and the Association allows the achievement of multiple objectives:
- the enhancement of corporate image with the added possibility to achieve commercial objectives;
- the improvement of employee motivation and therefore of the atmosphere within the company;
- better customer relations;
- tax deductibility (for companies in Italy).
Within the now widespread principle of social responsibility, companies can play an important role in both local and international contexts. There are many ways in which a company can support our work, adapted to their own specific reality. Here are just some of the possible examples:
1) Finance one or more long distance adoptions; adopt a class
This form of support concerns the long distance adoption of children, elderly, sick and disabled people as well as Tibetan monks. This is a very important long-term project with an annual contribution. It is with thanks to this project that hundreds of children and vulnerable adults have the opportunity to live serenely – receiving the help they need for their nutrition, education, healthcare…
2) Make a donation in support of a project
The company can decide to support all or part of a project proposed by the Association, assuming a fundamental role for its realisation. Participation in the project can be given prominence on the company’s website, in corporate communications, on products, on promotional and advertising materials, among employees, as well as on the website and informative materials of the Association.
3) Donation of goods and services
This is an effective way to cope with the difficulties of non-profit organisations in finding the goods and services that they need on the market. For example: donation of equipment for a school, free supply of goods useful for a particular project (medicines, blankets, medical materials, etc), freight transport services in Italy and abroad, professional skills (legal advice, media support, technical aid, etc.), media spaces, goods that the organisation can exchange for donations, etc.
4) Organisation of fund-raising events or sponsorship of those organised by the Association
Events, especially those for charitable purposes, are activities that can provide visibility for both those who organise or sponsor them.
Sponsoring an event can give the company new opportunities for communication and public relations.
5) Involvement of employees and customers
The company can decide to support the Association by involving its employees and/or customers in a fundraising campaign in favour of our projects.
This can be done by sharing the company’s social commitment (for example, gift matching – for every euro donated by the employee or the client, the company undertakes to replicate the donation); through proposing to employees to share the company’s social commitment to a project; by disseminating informative materials and news on activities with customers and employees, etc.
6) Donation to the Association of the budget traditionally intended for Christmas gifts to clients, employees and suppliers; or on the occasion of meetings and conventions
Christmas is an important opportunity for companies that want to communicate their social values. The company can donate to our projects the amount usually spent for Christmas gifts, communicating the initiative with a letter prepared by us and possibly a small “Himalayan” gift.
Any ad hoc initiatives are also feasible with prior notice.
It is also possible to allocate to the Association the sum allocated to the usual ‘gadgets’ for participants in a Convention.
7) Cause Related Marketing
With this type of collaboration, the company and the Association establish a business relationship of mutual benefit. This form of collaboration can be included in the company’s marketing activities and can involve:
- products: a sum from the sale of a product is donated to the Association
- collected points: to encourage the sale of their products, the company can propose to their customers to donate the amount collected in points to the Association
- prizes: the company can indicate the association as recipient of non-withdrawn prizes from its competitions
The initiative can be communicated by the company through packaging, at sales points and with targeted campaigns.